M’s update: A scout’s life
Bob Fontaine flashed a satisfied smile when asked how many college and high school baseball games he’d seen the past 3½ months.
“I couldn’t tell you,” said Fontiane, the Mariners’ scouting director who has been at a ballfield — or two, or three, or four — almost every day since the college season began Feb. 22. “But I still can’t believe they pay me to do this.”
Fontaine and his scouts have been in the office the past few days preparing for the amateur draft, which begins Thursday. The Mariners select 20th in the first round, and Fontaine said his wish list includes starting pitchers, relief pitchers and left-handed hitters.
For months, he’s been at the places he loves most — the high school and college fields that often are far removed from the luxury of the major leagues.
Fontaine’s schedule is nothing casual, and he may own the record for most games seen in one day.
“I was at a tournament and saw 16 games one day,” he said. “It was a cloverleaf (of diamonds) and I sat where I could see them all. I left there not quite sure what I had just seen.”
In addition to documenting the strengths and weaknesses of dozens of players, Fontaine said he has kept a particular list for his own amusement.
“It’s all the different ways to get a game cancelled,” Fontaine said. His count is at 46, and it goes far beyond rainouts and snowouts.
“I was at a game that was bee’d out because of a swarm of bees,” he said. “One was called off because of snakes in the outfield, one because there was a carnival on the infield and one when the team bus ran out of gas.”
Uncomfortable position: Manager John McLaren, in praising pitcher Jarrod Washburn for his mental toughness during a season when his record has gone soft (2-7), said nobody on the team has given up despite such a poor start.

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